My SLR recommendations

A lot of you have been asking for my SLR recommendations, so I thought I’d put a post together to answer those. And this’ll serve as a handy place to send people when they ask in the future. Yay for saving time!

Almost nothing I’m going to share with you in this post is going to be terribly frugal, at least not in the typical sense of the word.

Good camera equipment doesn’t come cheap, and that’s that.

But as you know, I’m a big fan of spending money in ways that reflect your priorities, and so if capturing life through a camera lens is important to you, I think investing in quality cameras and lenses can be a really wise thing. And if you can manage to avoid the portrait studio by using your camera, it could actually pay for itself over time.

Just make sure you don’t overextend yourself to purchase any of this…save up and buy when you’ve got the money (also, Amazon sells most of the equipment I use, so you can always save up Swagbucks to help you afford your camera equipment).

Ok! Here’s a quick rundown of what I recommend.

Canon vs. Nikon

I use Canon equipment, only because my first SLR was a gift, and it was a Canon. I honestly don’t think one is better than the other (I think you could be very happy with either!), but Canon is all I know, so that’s all I’m going to talk about.

New or Used

Thus far, I have not been brave enough to buy any SLR camera equipment used. I’m too nervous that it will have been abused, so I’ve stuck with saving up and buying brand new.

I know you can get good deals on Ebay or Craig’s List, though, so if you’re braver than me, those are options worth exploring.

Camera Bodies

If I were starting out with no SLR, I’d be inclined to buy the Rebel t3i, which costs about $600 for the body. It”s the best of the less expensive camera bodies, and if you’re just starting out, there’s no need to go crazy and buy a super expensive camera body. It takes HD video, and has a fairly extensive range of settings and options.

If you want to spend a bit less, you can get the Canon Rebel t1i, which I have. It takes both video and still pictures, and costs $500 for the body. (I opted for this one because the improved video features on the t3i weren’t important to me since I own the 7d.)

There’s also a t2i, but that’s SO close in price to the t3i, you might as well bump up to that.

I wouldn’t really recommend it for a beginner because it’s heavy and expensive, but I dearly love my Canon 7D, which sells for $1400. It’s got fabulous image quality and a ton of features…I lurve it to pieces.

Lenses

A good lens is WAY more important than the camera body. I’ll take my $500 Rebel with a good lens over my 7D with a bad lens any day.

The lens that you can get with the Rebel camera bodies is typically an 18-55 zoom lens. It’s adequate, but nothing fabulous. I found it to be a good learner lens for my first year with an SLR, though, and I did manage to turn out some nice photos with it.

That above photo is actually hanging in my living room. Check out how curly Zoe’s hair used to be!

I don’t really ever use that lens now unless I’m going to be shooting in very messy conditions (think windy beach).

Buying the kit lens with the camera is the cheapest, simplest route to go. However, if you want to step up your game a bit, a better lens is the ticket.

My most favorite lens, the 50mm 1.4, sells for around $375. This is the lens I shoot with around 95% of the time, which means that almost all of the photos you see on this blog are taken with it.

If you like to take pictures of people, I SO recommend getting a 50mm 1.4. It’s fast, small, light, and gives you lovely blurred backgrounds. (by the way, there is a 50mm 1.8 which sells for around $100, but the image and build quality aren’t nearly as nice as the 1.4.)

The 50mm lens doesn’t zoom in and out…it’s fixed right at 50 mm. If you’d like a zoom lens, you might want to consider the 28-135, which sells for $366. It’s definitely a better quality lens than the zoom lens that comes with the camera body, and 28-135 is a nice all-purpose range.

I hope that wasn’t confusing. If it was, here’s something simple for you…if you want to get a new SLR with a lens, you could buy the Rebel t1i with 18-55 lens for $550. That would get you everything you need to get busy shooting, and you can always upgrade your lenses down the road.

Accessories

I prefer not to use flash whenever possible, but when I must use flash, the Lightscoop is super handy.

Lastly, I like to take my smaller SLR with me everywhere I go, so I love my Jo Tote. It’s a camera bag and purse combined…so perfect for me!

It comes in lots of other fun shades, so if you want to be more colorful than me, you’ve got options!

For times when I want to bring all my equipment with me, I like to use my LowePro SlingShot bag. It’s got room for several camera bodies, lenses, memory cards, and more. I can fit a crazy amount of stuff in that bag.

I know that’s a very basic overview, so please do ask questions in the comments if I didn’t cover something you wanted to know.

Oy. That’s a lot of black in one post, isn’t it? Here’s something a little more colorful to finish things off.

Comments

I was actually brave (or desperate) and bought a used Rebel XT off Craigslist. While I was wary, I have not had a single problem with the camera in over 2 years. (Except for wanting to upgrade!) I also had to go the cheap route and purchase the 50mm/1.8. While it does a pretty good job most of the time, it does still struggle a bit in low light.

The biggest thing I think is no matter what you shoot with, learn how to use your equipment. Custom white balance changed my life. I’m still learning how to capture great shots of a very busy 2 year old, but I’m slowly getting better!

Thanks for the product reviews. I need to get my hands on a Lightscoop! The natural light in my house is AWFUL.

Well that’s been an interesting half an hour scouring UK sites checking out all the variations! Looks as though value for money may be better over in the US. Our prices seem to be coming out higher generally! Thanks for that great info…both the Hubby and I have been reading through the post. I confessed about your great piccies with a point and shoot

Thanks for the great overview! I currently have use of a Cannon EOS, though I’m not exactly sure which one. My hobby has become taking pictures of my husbands hobbies, which often involve being outside and lots of moving. However, a couple of weeks ago I took pictures of an indoor practice session, and got some pretty decent pictures for my first time playing with manual settings. I told him my next big purchase is going to be a DSLR of my own.

I know that you are fully immersed in the Canon world, but Canon and Nikon are not the only slr brands out there. Pentax makes great and pretty inexpensive slrs. Both my dad and one of my friends have the Pentax k-x and it is a very good camera.
I own an Olympus E-3 along with a 12-60mm lens, a 50mm lens, and a 70-300mm lens. I LOVE my camera and all of my lenses. I mostly photograph nature, so my lens requirements are different, but I still love my 50mm for macro shots and low light.
For camera bags I have a Crumpler 5 Million Dollar home, which fits just my camera and the 3 lenses. I also have an F-Stop backpack. The backpack is great for hiking as it comfortably fits my camera gear plus extra stuff like lunch. They aren’t cheap, but they are well made and don’t look too camera bag-like.

I have the OLYMPUS PEN E-PL1 and I just love it. It’s a new-ish format – better than a point and shoot, not quite as high quality as the DSLR. It’s called micro four thirds. The best part about it is that the body is no bigger than many point and shoot cameras. With a pancake lens, you can slip this in your pocket and go. It’s a good bit cheaper at under $400 for the camera and kit zoom lens. There are other Pen models with varying prices and features so you might want to check them all out before deciding. Accessories are not cheap, though. It may not be the best for portraits – I’m more of a nature photographer myself. My son has a Nikon D60 and I’ve compared photos between the two cameras and unless I were printing high res images, I wouldn’t know the difference. Lots of fun!

This is great info for someone looking to get into photography! I have had a Rebel XT for about 4 years now and love it. Because of your blog, I decided to go for the 50 mm 1.4 lens when I was ready to upgrade to some nicer lenses and I love it so much! I also put a Lightscoop on my Christmas wish list this year. Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your love of photography and practical tips and experience with us! I have learned a lot just from reading here.

Thanks for the info! I would love to purchase a nice camera, but I’m holding out until I have a little more money (and more time to learn how to use it and to practice with it!). But, it will happen!

That picture of your children on the beach is just so beautiful. I know you said it’s hanging in your living room…I think it would also look great as one of those canvases (I’m always getting groupons for making canvases out of photos). Just a thought!

A comment and a question:
I have been very pleased doing business with an independent camera repairman. Doug refurbishes all the equipment he sells and he guarantees his work. sellers on Craig’s list or Ebay may be less expensive but they don’t include peace of mind.
My question is do you use the regular or warming Lightscoop? I really need to do something to improove the quality of our cakes. The bakery has fluorescent lighting. I have to set the ISO at 800 or 1600 to avoid flash and then I get grainy pictures. You can see what I mean at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Hoffmans-Fine-Cakes-Pastries/327244486126

For cakes and other product shots, you might try using an off-camera flash. this is where you have an accessory flash slaved to the camera and hold it off to the side when taking the picture (either by hand, on a tripod, or using a helper). You don’t use the built-in flash on the camera. Using the flash will help with the fluorescents, and using it off-camera will help you control the light level and avoid flashburn. You can put a reflector on the accessory flash to soften it even more.

Cheers Virginia – and great timing… I’ve just been in a electronics superstore and spoken to a Canon rep. It was a toss up between EOS 550D and 600D (approx £90 difference). This is apparently the UK equivalent of a rebel (presume he knows his stuff?). The difference is the 600D has the facility to use an off camera flash, as well as having better stability? It also has a screen that swivels off to the side, which will be good for video. Fantastic advice thanks!

The problem is that they are paying us to decorate cakes not take pictures of them. The only windows are in the retail half of the store too far away from the decorator’s bench and full of customers. I’m not familiar w/ white ballance, I guess I’ll have to go read the manual.

Thanks for the informative post. It is great to have someone explain it so simply. Two of my 5 kids have DSLR cameras and they love them. They also bought the body separately from the lens–well, one bought a kit, then turned around and sold the lens with the kit to help pay for the better different lens.

I have the beginner Nikon – D3100 and love love it. I have been saving for a 50mm 1.4, but may have to use that for a new laptop instead. (Rats!) I recently started taking the camera off Auto mode, and unfortunately the quality of my pictures have suffered – hopefully temporarily.

I think there is probably not that much difference between the major brands, but that my Dad (who is a pro) started with a Nikon, and as a result, the whole family has been indoctrinated

And here I am on the opposite end – I am a Nikon gal. For the same reason. My first camera, from my dad, was an F4S and when it was time to buy a DSLR, I wanted ones that would take my current stock of lenses so 5 years ago I bought a D80 and never looked back.

The Lightscoop is great! I stink at using my speedlight correctly but the Lightscoop takes the guesswork out of it when shooting indoors. Well, 90% of the time anyway.

Loved this post—thank you so much for the great info. I have a Canon Rebel T1i and the 50mm 1.8 lens and have some trouble with getting my focusing just right… Would the upgrade the the 50 mm 1.4 lens help with this? Do you notice a significant difference between the two lenses? Thanks so much!

That Lightscoop looks awesome, but, btw, do you know that with your 7D, you can use “flash exposure compensation” to turn way down how much flash you get? I assume you know that, but I just thought I’d check. Especially for daytime flash fill-in it is awesome. I used to use a Lightscoop type gadget, but now, 90% of the time I just have the flash dialed down. If you don’t know about it, check it out. Press the “Q” button, and it is right underneath the ISO window…..

So glad you linked to this post in today’s post. I’m thinking of upgrading my camera lens, but didn’t know what lens would be a good move. Now I have a better idea of what would suit my needs — thanks!

Ever since I moved to email subscribing to your blog, I hardly ever comment anymore, but I do still read and appreciate every single post. Keep up the great work!

That’s definitely a good way to go, especially if you do better with someone else giving you assignments and such. Mr. FG tends to function better in that sort of situation, whereas I do fine with a self-directed kind of thing.

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